“MUNICH. The "Penne arrabiata" weren't exactly "al dente." The spicy tomato sauce, however, was quite tasty, and the fact that the pasta was a little too soft may have been due to its temporary storage in the warming boxes. The lentil curry, on the other hand, impressed even critical eaters at the Munich office of the Facebook parent company Meta on Monday evening. In the future, Meta employees will be able to use the CA-1 cooking robot during their breaks. This robot was developed by the startup Circus SE, founded in Hamburg in 2021 and now based in Munich.
The cooking robot is supported by artificial intelligence (AI). Meta supplies the AI systems. The partnership even extends into the defense sector, as Circus founder and CEO Nikolas Bullwinkel told the F.A.Z. in an interview. Meta and Circus are unequal partners: The American Facebook group has a market capitalization of more than 1.5 trillion euros, while Circus, whose shares have been traded on the stock exchange since the beginning of 2024, is valued at just under 340 million euros. The company aims to revolutionize the out-of-home catering market. "We want to give everyone access to high-quality food around the clock," Bullwinkel says, describing the company's ambitions. The company is still operating at a loss, but the order situation is improving with the now operational cooking robots. "We will produce a three-digit number of devices next year," reports the 29-year-old Bullwinkel, who already gained valuable experience with the rapid delivery service Flink and became a millionaire by selling his shares in that company. According to him, orders have been received from hospitals, Berlin Airport, nursing homes, and the canteen of a car manufacturer. This is likely Mercedes-Benz. His greatest hopes currently rest on the partnership with Rewe, one of the largest food retailers in Germany. The cooking robots will soon be deployed in Rewe stores in North Rhine-Westphalia. "There, the device will be closest to the end customer." "There, he can experience how it tastes," says Bullwinkel, who for this reason considers Rewe a desirable partner for Circus. The dishes at Rewe are expected to start at 6.50 euros. That's significantly cheaper than comparable offers on the market, Bullwinkel emphasizes. The cost factor isn't the ingredients, but the employees.
However, the CA-1 cooking robot is anything but a bargain. The purchase price is 250,000 euros, plus monthly license fees for the software and AI system of 10,000 euros. To finance these costs and depreciation, around 100 dishes would have to be sold per day at a price of seven euros each.
This isn't a problem for the cooking robot, which can prepare between 70 and 100 dishes per hour.
Bullwinkel isn't worried about competition from companies like the Hamburg-based startup Goodbytz, which also specializes in cooking robots. "In the current phase of the market, there is virtually no competition," he says. The market is growing for everyone. "Our customer isn't the restaurateur; we see ourselves as a replacement for a canteen," Bullwinkel adds. This also applies to field kitchens, i.e., for military operations. Here, Circus offers a more robust version of the CA-1 cooking robot, the CA-M. Circus is cooperating with Meta and gaining access to the Llama program developed by Meta for AI in the defense sector. Inclusion in the NATO supplier directory is also important. This qualifies Circus as a certified supplier for NATO and its member states. Approval as a supplier has also been granted by US government agencies and the Department of Defense. Goodbytz has already received an order from the US Army and will install the first robotic kitchen at a US base in South Korea later this year.
Mangal Döner, the fast-food chain in which football star Lukas Podolski is involved, is also relying on Circus's robots. "Together with Circus SE, we have concluded an initial framework agreement for 500 units of the CA-1 cooking robot," says a representative of Mangal Döner. "The contract for the CA-1 cooking robot has been signed," a spokeswoman explained in response to an inquiry from the F.A.Z. The first restaurant with a cooking robot is scheduled to open by the end of the year.” [1]
1. Der Kochroboter als Ersatzkantine: KI-Geräte des Start-ups Circus kochen bald auch in einigen Rewe-Filialen. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung; Frankfurt. 01 Oct 2025: 26.
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